QUICK TAKES - Sept. 13, 2012

Early color film revived

The earliest movies known to be shot in color have been revived by film archivists, who on Wednesday gave an audience at London’s Science Museum a glimpse at cinema’s first attempts to show us the world as we see it.

The obscure film segments were long considered failed prototypes, blurry flickers of color seen by no more than a handful of people before being consigned to an archive. But the National Media Museum in the northern England city of Bradford said digitization had effectively rescued the footage, unlocking remarkably modern-looking images created more than a century ago.

The scenes, screened at the Science Museum, ranged from roughly five to 40 seconds and showed a parrot, a London street scene, and three smiling children sitting around a table covered with a burgundy cloth batting at a goldfish bowl with large sunflowers. Experts have dated the segments to 1901 or 1902.

-- Associated Press

Clive Davis plans memoir

Music mogul Clive Davis will release an autobiography in February that will include “the excitements, the disappointments and the triumphs” of his career.

The untitled book will be released through Simon & Schuster and will be written with music journalist Anthony DeCurtis. A news release says it will include “never-before-heard tales” about Davis’ work with performers such as Whitney Houston, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan.

Davis, 80, founded both Arista and J Records. He’s the chief operating officer of Sony Music. His first book, “Clive: Inside the Record Business,” was released in 1975.

-- Associated Press

Sudeikis elects to stay on ‘SNL’

If you are a die-hard fan of Jason Sudeikis, you should probably thank Mitt Romney for giving the “Saturday Night Live” star a reason to stay on the show at least through January.

“SNL” executive producer Lorne Michaels confirmed to the New York Times that the man who has played Romney and Vice President Joe Biden will be returning to the show when it begins a new season on Saturday and will remain on the show at least through the election season.

Sudeikis’ status as a cast member had been a big question mark since the end of last season.

— Patrick Kevin Day

Kathy Bates has mastectomy

Kathy Bates has beaten cancer yet again, she revealed Wednesday.

“Hey All, sorry for the long silence,” she said in a two-part Twitter message. “I was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 months ago & am recovering from a double mastectomy. ... I don’t miss my breasts as much as I miss Harry’s Law. ;-) Thanks for all the sweet tweets. Y’all kept me going.”

The Oscar-winning actress (“Misery”) was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003. This time around, however, she won’t need radiation or chemotherapy, she said in a statement to People on Wednesday.

“My doctors have assured me I’m going to be around for a long time,” Bates told the magazine. “I’m looking forward to getting back to work doing what I love to do.”

She’d been silent on Twitter since the end of May, shortly after her series “Harry’s Law” was canceled by NBC.

Despite the show’s demise, Bates is up for an Emmy Sept. 23 for her performance in the show. She also was nominated for a guest role on CBS’ “Two and a Half Men.”

— Christie D’Zurilla

Dish to carry Beck network

Barely a year after leaving Fox News, Glenn Beck is back on the airwaves. On Wednesday, satellite broadcaster Dish Network announced that the Blaze, Beck’s 24-hour online news and opinion network, would be available to its subscribers starting that afternoon.

Beck departed Fox News in June 2011 amid declining ratings and allegations that he was becoming increasingly extreme in his viewpoint.

A year ago, he launched GBTV, an online video channel that has attracted about 300,000 paid subscribers. In June, GBTV merged with TheBlaze.com, the right-leaning news site Beck founded in 2010.

Beck will continue to host his daily talk show on the Blaze; the current slate of programming also includes other news and opinion shows, as well as a reality series (“Independence USA”) and even a kids’ program (“Liberty Treehouse”).

— Meredith Blake

Finally

King honored: Longtime talk-show host Larry King will receive a lifetime achievement award from the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters on Sept. 21. Previous recipients include Betty White, Vin Scully, Bob Hope and Lily Tomlin.